#PrayforMH17

“We have absolutely no control over what happens to us in life but what we have paramount control over is how we respond to those events.”


--- Feeling sad for the tragedy that happened in Ukraine. May each passenger of #MH17 rest in peace.

What it means to be Lucky

What it means to be Lucky A literature professor in Freshmen Year once asked me what book influences me the most to study law, I guess he was hoping I would mention the likes of John Grisham or James Patterson; the typical response of my fellow colleagues. But I had looked him in the eye and said causally but firmly; If ever there is a book which had more or less strengthened my desire to study law, it would be “Lucky” by Alice Sebold. He smiled at my choice of literature, but it was the kind of smile that is full of understanding and respect.

For those who might not have heard of the book, it is a memoir written by Alice Sebold which narrates her life experience as a college student who was raped in a tunnel when she was on her way back to her dorm. The police describes her experience as being “Lucky “ as there was a previous incident where a woman was also brutally raped and murdered in the same tunnel.

It is a story which describes the life of a rape victim as she struggles to reconnect with life and how the law works to seize justice.

I liked the book not just because I was a woman but because Alice is attempting to reach out to fellow rape victims who are afraid to take a stand. As she stated in her book:

"One of the reasons why I wrote it is because tons of people have had similar stories, not exactly the same but similar, and I want the word 'rape' to be used easily in conversation. My desire would be that somehow my writing would take a little bit of the taboo or the weirdness of using that word away. No one work is going to accomplish the years of work that need to be done, but it can help."

It is indeed a very gruelling process, and sometimes when I witness Rape Cases my stomach feels like a bottomless bowl of lead. However it also fuels my determination to uphold the law and help as many victims as I possibly could.

I don’t need to become a rape victim to take a stand, and in a weird way, that’s what makes me Lucky.